


Touch.

by latewinternight



Category: God's Own Country (2017)
Genre: Eventual Romance, Gen, M/M, Mother-Son Relationship, Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:00:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28668126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/latewinternight/pseuds/latewinternight
Summary: My take on Johnny's relationship with his mother and how it affected him. :)
Relationships: Gheorghe Ionescu/Johnny Saxby
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	Touch.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fanfic for God's own Country. Feedback are most welcome :)

Johnny sometimes remembers his mother. She was a wonderful woman until the day she left. She filled John’s miserable days with reassuring words and hugs. She always took care of him and always covered for him whenever he was out late with his friends. And whenever spring came, both of them went into town and spent the whole day fooling around like the fun mother and son duo they were. Or they even went around the farm, enjoying the beautiful scenery and the smell of nature.

Then one day she left.

Johnny still remembers how a day before mam left, she was acting a little emotional. She made Johnny’s favorite food and told him that he will grow up to be a good man. And the next morning there was no sign of her in the house.

Johnny had cried of course. He missed her touch. Her hugs and her kind words which neither his dad nor his nan provided him with. And that was the last time he cried for her.

He tried his best to work at the farm but somehow he always missed something and completely fucked up by the end of the day, which was followed by some nasty words from his dad and a sigh from his nan.

Then one day Gheorghe showed up. 

And no matter how racist and annoyed Johnny acted towards that man, he was surely fascinated by him. When Johnny grazed his palm he didn’t expect Gheorghe to hold his hands and check his wound. He did try to pull his hand back but Gheorghe was persistent and insisted that if not checked then his wound would get infected with diseases. His touch was gentle than before when he had tackled Johnny on the ground. Too gentle and Johnny couldn’t help but feel loud thumps in his chest. He looked at Gheorghe as he checked his hand and when he did finally look back, Johnny looked away immediately. He couldn’t get the fact out of his head that Gheorghe was worried for him, that he was worried that the small _graze_ on his palm would cause any sort of harm. 

If Johnny remembers correctly, he hasn’t got his wounds tended to in a long time. Actually, fuck that, the last time someone did clean and bandage his physical wounds, was his mother. Which was years ago. 

He ends up craving more of Gheorghe’s touch.

And he does get to lay his hands on Gheorghe and touch him properly, but when the said man _affectionately_ runs his fingers down Johnny’s cheek and kisses the wound on his palm, something inside John takes a whole 360-degree turn. 

The next morning Gheorghe brings up the topic of spring and how it was the most beautiful season in his country. Johnny doesn’t say anything for a while. The name of that season alone brings so many memories back to him. He just couldn’t help but feel being pulled back in a loop of remembrance and he felt like a lost kid again who was just abandoned by the person he loved the most. He was picking on his wound again when he told Gheorghe about his mother.

_“Mam loved it when spring came. ‘Winter’s too long up here,’ she’d say.”_

_“Your mother?”_

_“Don’t think she were very happy. They called her Annie. Wanted to be a hairdresser or summat in a town down south.”_

Gheorghe’s fingers ran like soft feathers on his leg. Somehow John started pulling hard on the scabs when Gheorghe says, “ _Must’ve been hard.”_

_“I don’t really remember. She left and...We just got on with it, so…”_

But he does remember and he still hasn’t got on with it. He missed her every single day. When he comes back home drunk and no one is there to help him or reprimand him for drinking too much because they care. When his father doesn’t appreciate him enough and no one else is there to tell him otherwise. He misses her every day but he also gets angry at her a lot. For leaving.

He was picking on the dead skin around his wound with his teeth now. This hurt was getting out of hand and he was not exactly thinking about what he was doing. Then Gheorghe takes his hand, promptly stopping him from hurting himself, which in hindsight is not even remotely dangerous. But still, Johnny doesn’t pull back, not after what happened last night, not after Gheorghe _touched_ him. 

And he still remembers his mother’s touch and hugs and reassuring words. He still misses her. But later when Johnny runs after Gheorghe only to come to a stop near a cliff, he sees the scenery around him which he hasn’t properly seen in years. And for the first time in a while, he enjoys nature the way he did with his mother.

Maybe, just for the briefest second, he can think of not being a miserable lad because now Gheorghe was here. Maybe, now he will have someone who won’t suddenly leave or won’t stop hugging him or won’t stop showering him with kind words. 


End file.
